With the primary for the vacant 6th Congressional District seat a week away, state Sen. Michael Rulli raised $275,189 to $203,881 for state Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus in the latest reporting period.

Rulli, R-Salem, and Stoltzfus, R-Paris Township, raised those amounts between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, referred to as the preprimary period.

Rulli collected $216,779 from individual donors, $58,350 from political committees and $60 in rebates or refunds while Stoltzfus raised $187,531 from individual donors and $16,350 from political committees.

Rulli, Stoltzfus and Rick Tsai of East Palestine filed as Republicans for the unexpired term of Republican Bill Johnson and for the full two-year term that starts in January 2025.

Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown and Rylan Z. Finzer of Bedford Heights filed as Democrats.

The primary for both seats will be March 19 with the special general election for the unexpired term on June 11 and the election for the full two-year term on Nov. 5.

Johnson, who served 13 years in Congress, resigned Jan. 21 to become president of Youngstown State University.

During the preprimary reporting period, Rulli spent $281,088 to $247,826 for Stoltzfus.

Rulli’s largest expenses were $146,226 to Media Ad Ventures of Springfield, Virginia, for media advertising and $70,245 to Spencer Federal LLC of East Liverpool for mail production and services.

Stoltzfus’ biggest expenses were $90,040 to Flexpoint Campaigns of New Albany for television broadcasting, $38,023 to Monkey Crayon Media LLC of Westlake for direct mail and $22,600 to Cygal of Washington, D.C., for polling.

In the latter half of December, Rulli raised $167,546, including $30,400 from himself while Stoltzfus raised $283,826 with a $250,000 loan from the candidate.

Overall, Stoltzfus has raised about $45,000 more than Rulli as of Feb. 28. Without money given by the candidates, Rulli has collected about $135,000 more from donors than Stoltzfus.

Rulli also has spent about $34,000 more on his campaign than Stoltzfus as of Feb. 28.

Tsai filed a preprimary campaign report showing he raised $25,171, including $1,241 from himself, and spent $7,324. His largest expense was $7,050 to iHeart Media for radio commercials.

As of Feb. 28, Rulli had $160,542 in his fund compared with $239,596 for Stoltzfus and $7,324 for Tsai.

Kripchak hasn’t filed any campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Finzer’s preprimary report showed he raised $5,178, including $500 of his own money, and spent $3,302 with $3,000 going to Jennifer Keeler of Washington, D.C., for campaign consulting.

Finzer had $1,876 in his fund as of Feb. 28.

Also, the FEC requires candidates to file notices of any contributions they receive of at least $1,000 less than 20 days before the election. The contributions have to be reported to the FEC within 48 hours of receiving them. Candidates don’t have to file reports on expenditures during that time.

As of Monday, Rulli reported $28,393 in those contributions including $10,000 on March 5 from Koch Industries Political Action Committee, one of the largest Republican committees in the country.

Stoltzfus received $10,000 as of Monday from contributors since Feb. 28.

Tsai gave $5,400 to his campaign since Feb. 28 and received a $1,500 contribution.

The winner of the June 11 special election will fill the remainder of Johnson’s term while the winner of the Nov. 5 general election will serve a full two-year term starting in January 2025.

The district has an 18% advantage for Republicans based on voting trends in partisan statewide elections over the past decade. The seat is considered safe for Republicans.

The 6th Congressional District includes all of Mahoning, Columbiana, Carroll, Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties and portions of Stark and Tuscarawas counties. Mahoning is the district’s most-populous county.

14TH DISTRICT

U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, a Bainbridge Republican seeking his seventh two-year term in the House, raised $216,322 in the preprimary period.

That includes $131,265 from PACs with $5,000 maximum donations coming from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; the PAC of U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, and the House majority whip; and committees representing BWX Technologies; the carpenters union; Chevron Employees; General Dynamics Corp.; the Humane Society; MGM Resorts, the National Association of Letter Carriers, and those representing operating engineers as well as plumbers and pipefitters.

Joyce spent $376,085 between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28 with his largest expense being $300,475 to Gen2 Solutions LLC of Arlington, Virginia, for radio and television advertising.

During this reelection campaign, Joyce has raised $1,328,752 and spent $1,072,338.

With his large carryover from previous elections, Joyce had $2,211,676 in his fund as of Feb. 28.

He also received $8,000 from contributors giving at least $1,000 since the oreprimary reporting period ended, as of Monday.

Joyce faces two Republicans in the March 19 primary: Elayne Cross of Kent and Ken Polke of Saybrook.

Polke hasn’t filed a report with the FEC.

Cross’ preprimary report shows she raised $6,140, with $3,780 coming from loans she gave her campaign. She spent $5,607, which all went to Print and Sign Express of Ravenna for sign and flyer printing. She had $533 as of Feb. 28.

The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Brian Bob Kenteres of Mentor who hasn’t filed a campaign finance report.

The 14th District includes all of Trumbull, Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties and all but two communities in Portage County. Trumbull is the second most-populous county behind Lake.

The district has a 10% Republican advantage based on voting trends in partisan statewide elections in the past decade. It is considered a safe Republican district.

Joyce won the district by 23.5% in 2022 over Democrat Matt Kilboy.

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